Nonstandard Programs: the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's next frontier in graduate medical education.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has seen continuous growth in the number and types of graduate training programs not accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the American Board of Medical Specialties, or the American Osteopathic Association. For the purposes of ensuring best educational products and of controlling unrecognized competition with our accredited programs, a sequential process of centralized oversight of these nonstandard programs was undertaken. The first step involved programs whose fellows were hired and tracked like accredited fellows (i.

Potential living kidney donors' health education use and comfort with donation.

Context: Much living kidney donation research focuses on actual donors rather than all donors who are evaluated by the transplant center.

Objective: To determine (1) what concerns and benefits potential donors saw possible from donation, (2) how they educated themselves before contacting the transplant center, and (3) who were the most comfortable donors.

Design: A telephone survey of 91 potential donors before transplant evaluation.

A new minimally invasive technique for cholecystectomy. Subxiphoid "minimal stress triangle": microceliotomy.

Objective: The authors devised a minimally invasive technique for cholecystectomy via microceliotomy that provides safety attainable with the open conventional approach and postoperative results comparable to laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Summary Background Data: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has evolved as a minimally invasive outpatient procedure. Patients can return rapidly to preoperative status with minimal postoperative morbidity and pain, and the small scar size is cosmetically desirable.